1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hook employed to separate a wire harness from a vehicle body and to a method for separating the wire harness using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In handling of disused automobiles, a hook employed to separate a wire harness from a vehicle body is conventionally disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2833674.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a hook 50 comprises a hook body 51, a hook portion 52, a support pin 53, an operating portion 54, a rod member 55 and a lock member 56. The U-shaped hook portion 52 to which a wire harness WH is hooked is integrally fixed to a lower end of the hook body 51. The operating portion 54 has a lower end rotatably supported by the hook body 51 via the support pin 53 and an upper end connected to a rope 60 of a hoist (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). The rod member 55 is integrally fixed to a lower end of the operating portion 54 and capable of approaching an end of the hook portion 52 and separating from the same. The lock member 56 locks the rod member 55 in a situation where the rod member 55 abuts against the end of the hook portion 52.
With the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 2, the wire harness WH is hooked to the hook portion 52 in a situation where the rod member 55 separates from the end of the hook portion 52. After hooking the wire harness WH to the hook portion 52, a tension load is applied to the hook 50 via the rope 60 upward. When the operating portion 54 is rotated around the support pin 53 by the tension load, the rod member 55 is also rotated together and then abuts against the end of the hook portion 52. In this situate, the lock member 56 locks the rod member 55 so as to keep in this position. If the tension load is further applied to the hook 50 via the rope 60 upward, the wire harness WH moves upward with the hook 50. The wire harness WH is separated from a vehicle body (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) by forcibly pulling out the wire harness WH from a plurality of clip means (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the vehicle body with the tension load.
The rod member 55 prevents the wire harness WH from falling off an opening of the hook portion 52 because the rod member 55 closes the opening.
The plurality of clip means are divided into a right clip means group and a left clip means group around a place where the wire harness WH is hooked to the hook 50. The wire harness WH is rarely pulled out from the right and left clip means groups at the same time and usually pulled out from either the right clip means group or the left clip means group in first, when the tension load is applied to the hook 50. Therefore, external force occurs to the wire harness WH by one clip means group continuing to clip the wire harness WH wherein the external force acts in an axial direction of the wire harness WH.
If the external force occurs to the wire harness WH, the hook 50 tends to sideslip because the wire harness WH is only hooked to the hook portion 52 so as not to fall off the opening of the hook portion 52. Once the hook 50 sideslip on the wire harness WH, the tension load applied to the hook 50 is not efficiently transmitted to the wire harness WH, and accordingly it takes a lot of time to separate the wire harness WH from the vehicle body.
Further, if the hook 50 sideslip on the wire harness WH, the wire harness WH tends to slip through the hook 50 from the other clip means group side wherein the wire harness WH has been pulled out from the other clip means group. Once the wire harness WH slips through the hook 50, it is necessary to start a work for hooking the wire harness WH to the hook portion 52 from the beginning again, and accordingly it takes a lot of time and becomes complicated to separate the wire harness WH from the vehicle body.
A method for separating a wire harness using a hook is conventionally disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication 2000-207947.
As shown in FIG. 3, a part of a wire of a wire harness WH′ is bent to form an eye portion 70. With the above configuration, if a hook (not shown in FIG. 3) is hooked to the eye portion 70 and then the wire harness WH′ is separated from a vehicle body (not shown in FIG. 3), the hook does not sideslip on the wire harness WH′. However, since it is necessary to form the eye portions 70 on each wire harness WH′ mounted to the vehicle body, it becomes complicated and costs a lot of money to manufacture the wire harness WH′, and accordingly this is not practical for the method.